From Yes Boss to Naagin: Rajkumar Prasad the man who turns actors into stars
Beautifully put by the renowned filmmaker Tom Donahue, who says, "Every character begins life as just words on a page. It takes the collaboration of a great casting director to make that character magnificent and the film unforgettable." No wonder, the casting directors are the unsung “heroes” of the film and television industry. Observant, humble, soft-spoken and hailing from Nalanda, Bihar is one of those jewels, Rajkumar Prasad, who has been in the industry for over 19 years and started his career with Mr. Anand Mahandru, Dekh Bhai Dekh fame director. Post that he joined UTV in 2003 and Siddhant Cine Vision where he worked for a brief period. Later he was appointed as the Casting Director as well as the Post Production-in-Charge for SAB TV.
He prefers working with television more than films because of the longer-term engagement factor that comes with the latter. After spending 10 years as a casting director at SAB TV where he led the casting for over 25 shows for the channel, Rajkumar went on to establish his casting agency named, ‘Rajkumar Creations’ and has been running it for the past 5 years. Mr. Rajkumar Prasad since then has casted, the lead roles for over 50 popular television serials including ‘Yes Boss’, ‘Risshton Ki Dor, ‘Honge Juda Na Hum’ to name a few.
Under his own banner ‘Rajkumar Creations’, the ongoing serials where Mr Prasad has casted include Dheeraj Dhoopar for ‘Kundali Bhagya’ (Zee TV), Arhaan Behll for ‘Yehh Jadu Hai Jinn Ka!’(Star Plus), Kanika Mann for ‘Guddan - Tumse Na Ho Paayega’ (Zee TV), Harshad Arora for ‘Tera Kya Hoga Alia’ (SAB TV), Roshni Walia for ‘Tara From Satara’ (Sony TV), Diana Khan for ‘Bahu Begum’ (Colors) and Aparna Kumar for ‘Naagin’ (Colors), Sana Sayyad for ‘Divya Dristi’ (Star Plus), Hiba Nawab for ‘Jijaji Chhat Per Hain’ (Sab TV), Vrushika Mehta for ‘Yeh Teri Galiyan’ (Zee TV) to name a few. In past, Rajkumar Prasad under his agency ‘Rajkumar Creation’ casted Alisha Panwar in ‘Ishq Mein Marjawan’ (Colors) and various supporting characters for the big screen too, such as ‘Jab We Met’, ‘Life Jingalala’ and other Hindi, Punjabi and Bengali film. He also produced a TV Show with the title ‘Madam Ki Pathshala’ for Dabangg Channel and casted Karishma Tanna, Upasana Singh and Amit Behl.
“Casting is a wonderful bit of serendipity. There's something magic in finding the right person for a part. I love talent. The business has changed so much. Now we hunt not only through portfolios but also through social media accounts such as TikTok or Instagram. We go beyond Mumbai and look for other places as well. That is how I have found Kanika Mann from Panipat and Alisha Panwar from Shimla. Producers might want an established name, while we seek an unknown with real potential and our job has got real rewards, particularly when those unknowns’ breakthrough” reflects Rajkumar.
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